Tuesday, February 21, 2012

My Review of Revenge's 1x15: "Chaos"

Written by Mark Fish And Joe FazzioDirected by Sanford Bookstaver

Emily (to herself): “There comes a moment in each of our lives when the control that keeps us sane slips through our fingers. Most of us aim to seize it back. The best way to fight chaos is with chaos.”

And if you’ve been spending the last few years actively pursuing revenge in a variety of ways, then chaos can also come and bite you on the backside as well. The last two episodes have seen Emily losing her control and despite Satoshi’s efforts, I’m not entirely sure if she’s regained it, though for sake, I do hope so.

It would take Emily and Daniel’s engagement party for Tyler to resurface and I have to admit if there’s one thing I was disappointed with in this episode, it was that Tyler and Amanda’s hostage/eventual alliance of sorts came to a rather abrupt conclusion. I think it was something that could’ve been milked for a few episodes or so.

Even when she’s being tied up and kept against her will by Tyler, it’s amazing how Amanda seems to have so much loyalty to Emily. Even when confronted with evidence that Emily was going to set her up for burning Mason’s house, Amanda couldn’t seem to stick with Tyler for that much longer.

Even when he bought her a nice dress for the engagement party, Amanda repaid his efforts by whacking him with a clothes hanger and legging it from the barn of captivity. The fact that she also managed to miss being shot by Tyler was pretty amazing as well. The big question though has to be asked – did Amanda kill Tyler?

It certainly looks like it. She was found by Jack on the beach with his corpse and he told her to leave, only for Satoshi to get to her and given that he knew about Frank’s death, Amanda definitely had motive to do him in. Well, that and the fact that she was still loyal to Emily in this one as well.

Of course, knowing this show, Amanda could easily be a red herring and if I had to pick who was more expendable between her and Satoshi, then I would go for the latter. After all, there’s more mileage that can be explored with Amanda and something told me that when Satoshi was telling Emily he took care of her problems that he wasn’t above killing Tyler in order to prevent her secrecy.

And that begs another question – why would Satoshi stick his neck out this much for Emily? We already know why both Nolan and Amanda have taken incredible risks and endangered themselves for her but why would Satoshi do the same? Unless, one of the passengers on Flight 197 was a relative of his and he too wants to get personal vengeance on the Graysons? I can’t wait to find out nonetheless though.

Speaking of discovery stuff – was it really that shocking the dead body on the beach turned out to be Tyler rather than Daniel? In retrospect, I guess not but given that Daniel was found bloodied and someone will inevitable piece Jack being there as well, I have a feeling both Jack and Daniel are going to be seen as suspects for the next few episodes until we learn the real killer’s identity. I’m still saying Satoshi until proven otherwise.

Also between Daniel and Tyler, the latter was more expendable story wise as well, so I expected that he would die. I did however like that Tyler became privy towards who Emily and Amanda really were and also that he tried to warn Daniel about his soon to be wife. It was the whole trying to kill Daniel and frame Emily that didn’t do him many favours in the end.

As for the engagement party/Fire and Ice theme/flashback to the first episode – I am actually surprised that the show did this so early but given what’s actually come out of it; it does make some narrative sense though. It really hasn’t been that long since Emily showed up at the Hamptons and Victoria’s warnings to Daniel about her are all true but not for the reasons she expected though.

In terms of other storylines – I knew Jack’s plans to leave the Stowaway for Haiti would come undone by Amanda in the same way that I knew both Daniel and Charlotte would be manipulated by their grandfather to a degree, that Nolan would try to talk sense to Emily and she’s ignore him and that Victoria would do something to make Conrad look like he was winning. If it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m actually not but these are minor plots that should be more prominent in the next few episodes though.

Also in “Chaos”

I actually liked that Emily showed some faith in Amanda when telling Nolan that she didn’t believe Amanda would steal the Infinity box.

Daniel (to Emily): “Just promise me one more time. No secrets of any kind ever. You’ve seen what they’ve done to my family.”

Charlotte might have been bullied by her grandfather out of seeing a therapist but she did steal Jack’s Oxycodone, which Emily caught her with at the engagement party.

Amanda (re Emily): “She’s not who she thinks she is, you know.”Tyler: “Yeah, she’s you and you’re her and her and her and her and they call me crazy.”Amanda: “I mean she’s not a bad person. She does stuff for the right reasons.”

Emily: “Daniel feels betrayed by you. If you want to rescue that relationship, you’re going to have to earn his trust.”Victoria: “Would you facilitate that conversation?”Emily: “Well that’s up to Daniel.”

Despite Daniel and Victoria being at odds with each other, Emily actually did help Victoria by turning down Daniel’s offer of going to Paris with him.

Tyler (to Emily): “Have fun at the party tonight. I hear there’s going to be fireworks.”

Jack asking Emily to look after Sammy was a sweet moment as was Nolan trying to get Emily to go to Haiti with Jack. She probably should’ve listened to Nolan but there wouldn’t be a show if she did and she buried the box at the beach.

Emily (to herself): “Chaos by it’s very definition cannot be controlled. Once introduced all order and intention is rendered useless. The outcome of chaos cannot be predicted. The only certainty it brings is the devastation it leaves in it’s wake.”

Chronology: Once again, it’s Labour Day in the Hamptons and three months since Emily arrived in town.

For an all important episode, “Chaos” certainly delivered in a satisfying manner. Tyler’s death might have been predictable but seeing how it will unravel for the rest of the season should be a lot of fun to watch as well as Daniel’s new insight into the woman he’s now marrying.

About Me

My name is Shawn Lunn and when I don't blog regularly on TV, I write a serious amount of reviews for a variety of different TV programmes as well as comics, books and DVDs pertaining to them (which can be found on my TV Tome and Shawnlunn2002 TVHITS Yahoo Group, also linked here) as well as on this blog. I'm a huge fan of all innovative and smart television.